The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Defense’s motion to stay the preliminary injunction that blocks enforcement of the Trump administration’s executive order banning transgender people from enlisting or continuing to serve in the United States Armed Forces. This order means that the nationwide preliminary injunction issued in Shilling v. Trump remains in place, keeping transgender servicemembers in the military while the government appeals the injunction.
Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation issued the following statement:
“The court’s denial recognized that the government is not harmed when transgender servicemembers, who meet the same standards as their peers, are able to serve. To the contrary, the military is harmed when discriminatory policies exclude qualified people from service simply because of who they are.”
On March 28, Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) won a preliminary injunction that immediately blocked enforcement of the Trump administration’s executive order banning transgender people from enlisting or continuing to serve in the United States Armed Forces. The nationwide injunction applies to not only the lawsuit’s plaintiffs but also any similarity situated individual including servicemembers serving outside the United States. The government has appealed that injunction, and this order determined that the injunction will stand while that appeal is heard over the coming months.
In February, Lambda Legal and HRCF filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Trump administration’s ban on military service by transgender people. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of seven actively serving transgender service members, a transgender person seeking to enlist in the military, and Gender Justice League, a civil and human rights organization headquartered in Seattle.
On February 19, Lambda Legal and HRCF asked the District Court to block the implementation of the executive order.
On March 25, Lambda Legal and HRCF went to court in Tacoma, Washington to urge the District Court to block enforcement of the Trump administration’s Transgender Military Ban.
Read more about the case here: https://lambdalegal.org/case/shilling-v-trump/